FBI blows up possibly 'volatile substance' at house

Neighbors told about blasts, but agents mum over searches of upscale houses; no arrests made

Updated 7:41 pm, Saturday, October 5, 2013

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff

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FBI agents prepare to blow up an unknown substance at a home at 411 Fall River Road in the Memorial area. The agents detonated materials twice in the backyard, warning neighbors of the impending explosions.

FBI agents prepare to blow up an unknown substance at a home at 411 Fall River Road in the Memorial area. The agents detonated materials twice in the backyard, warning neighbors of the impending explosions.

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff

FBI blows up possibly 'volatile substance' at house

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FBI agents on Saturday afternoon touched off two detonations in the backyard of a home in the normally quiet Memorial area where a mysterious search began a day earlier, according to an FBI spokeswoman.

Spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said there was an initial controlled detonation of a "potentially volatile substance" shortly before 2 p.m. "for the safety of the public and law enforcement personnel." She declined to say when agents had come across the undisclosed substance at the home in the 400 block of Fall River Road. Later in the afternoon there was a second blast.

About 10 minutes before the initial 1:51 p.m. blast, agents went to nearby homes to warn neighbors they would hear a pop. But a resident who lives next to the house said it sounded more like a boom.

A few FBI agents in flack jackets and helmets appeared to go in and out of the house shortly before the detonation. About 25 minutes afterwards, agents in white protective suits went inside.

Following the first detonation, agents returned to the search that had started Friday, Dunlap said.

She said she couldn't speculate on how long it would take them to finish.

But then around 4 p.m., she said, the FBI touched off a second detonation in the backyard very similar to the first. Dunlap said it went well and was "a little quieter" than the first one.

More than 24 hours after agents in hazmat gear showed up at the Fall River home and at another house in an equally upscale neighborhood in the 2000 block of Albans - as well as at a condominium complex in Bryan - there was still no official explanation for the odd turn of events in otherwise staid enclaves.

"Only a judge can unseal federal documents," Dunlap said Saturday by email before the detonation.

"I do not anticipate they will be unsealed any time soon."

The searches on Albans and in Bryan finished about 4 p.m. Friday, she said.

No arrests had been made by Saturday morning, Dunlap said.

On Friday, an official who spoke off the record said the search had been prompted by someone's ordering chemicals that could be used to make gas, such as nerve gas or tear gas.

The source said the chemicals weren't the type used in the manufacture of traditional explosives.

Although Dunlap said she couldn't confirm any connection among the three homes, other sources indicate they are owned by a member of the Houston art community, Cecily E. Horton, and her husband, Andrew Schneck.

The couple's son was the intended target of the FBI activity, a business colleague of Horton's said Friday.

According to public records, the son is 22 years old.

On Friday, Schneck said by phone that he could not comment at this time. Attempts to reach him Saturday were unsuccessful.